Category Archives: Happy?

I Can’t Go On Without You

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A day off after working a five day shift. Surprisingly enough it wasn’t as bad as previous five day shifts. Yesterday was with Bradley and Jerry Vale and that wasn’t so bad. We made sure the store would be in tip top shape for when Calvin returns from wherever he was for the past week.

It wasn’t that busy a day but it was still somewhat hot out. Not the 104 degrees like the other day, but actually around 94 degrees which made it a little bit comfortable. Still it was too hot to go outside for lunch so I once again stayed in the cigar shack and had a cigar in the man cave.

It was day five of doing that and it certainly was not as crowded as it had been the previous days. Just me and a customer. A seven hour playlist I made the other night was on and the customer sat across from me watching a sparsely attended Mets game in Tampa Bay as I read and finished last week’s New Yorker.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly and I insisted on closing the store sending Bradley and Jerry Vale home as soon as the opportunity arose. Fifteen minutes was not going to make much of a difference anyway.

I came home, Bill was asleep after returning from Boston on the bus. His pal Fred had continued on to New Hampshire leaving Bill to take an acting class on Sunday morning. I had some really crappy pizza when I came home and settled in to watch True Blood (quite busy and intense) then Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage.

Though I hadn’t watched Entourage in a few years I figured I would catch the last season and forgot how hot James Caan’s son Steve is. It’s definitely the hair and the cocky attitude. And the tight bod. I watched a documentary on John Lennon in New York City which I had seen before.

It was a hot summer night and nothing was on really anyhow. 20 years ago I would have been living in Lodi with my father, watching probably ‘I, Claudius’ on PBS and drinking while my father slept. And that scene was not going to last much longer. A few months later I had changed my address to Weehawken. A definite improvement.

This morning I woke up to find Bill still in bed. I was surprised to find out he had taken the day off. It wasn’t a bad thing, just a surprise. I was anticipating on being home alone but here he was. Before I even took a shower I had to tell him not to fill the water pitcher all the way since it overflows in the fridge when he does overfill it.

And I also told him not to remove the trap when he is showering since it doesn’t make matters any better, in fact it makes it worse. We have a crappy drain in our bath tub and despite Julio using a snake and finding two other broken snakes in the drain it still takes a long time for the water to go away. He rarely showers here and usually does so at the gym in the morning.

So he’s not used to the way things run or don’t run here. Bill said he was going to have a plumber come by and fix it but since he really doesn’t use the shower as often as I do, if at all and I have no real problem with it then it’s no big deal, an annoyance at best. When I heard him say that about having a plumber visit I said ‘whatever’ to which he requested that I stop saying ’whatever’ since he doesn’t like it.

So I grunted instead.


I Can’t Control Myself

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Let’s see. I haven’t written since last Thursday, July 7. I was planning on it but it wound up taking 2 hours to get home when in the best circumstances it takes maybe 30 minutes tops. I was on the bus, in the queue at the top of the exit ramp and thanks to a car accident in the Lincoln Tunnel (2nd accident in 2 hours) I waited for about 45 minutes before I persuaded the bus driver to let me off.

I had thought that if I get off the bus the traffic would start moving, but I was getting impatient. I read a few pages of Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad and decided to do something instead of just sitting there. The bus driver bent the rules and allowed me off the bus.

I wandered down a few flights of steps and exited through a door that a few women couldn’t see even though it was right in front of them. I stepped out into the mist/drizzle and headed towards the Path train, lighting a small cigar as I stomped my way down the street listening to Public Image Limited.

I waited just a few minutes for a train and hopped aboard. It wasn’t that crowded on a Friday night and I was home almost 2 hours after signing out at the cigar shack. I was toasted but off for 5 days. I watched some of Bill Maher with the hideous Ann Coulter on and yes even though I didn’t think it possible I loathe her even more than ever before. I loathe her like cancer. She was quite annoying as if she could be any other way.

The next day was a Saturday. My sister was flying in from the west coast and we spoke briefly, her plane was delayed, late enough that she would probably head to my niece’s house instead of stopping in Hoboken first. It was a drag but I got over it.

It freed up a lot of things that I had to do, I was able to take my time and do whatever it was I had to do and forgot to do what Annemarie asked me to do which was to call my sister in law and tell her that Annemarie wouldn’t be stopping by over there either. Don’t know why I spaced on it, but I did totally. I don’t even remember Annemarie asking me make the call.

Annemarie made it safe and sound and a bit peeved at my space cadet status. I was embarrassed myself. The next day was Sunday and Annemarie and I finally connected. She was earlier than I expected and after coming up to the messy apartment where Bill & I live, we walked around Hoboken for a spell, walking by the river, down Washington Street and stopping by the Guitar Bar to say hello to Mr. Wonderful Jim Mastro.

Then we walked up to Julio & Stine’s new apartment, otherwise known as Alexander’s domain. A lovely space, two bedrooms and a view of the neighborhood where the cigar shack is in the city. Some wine, some fruit and good conversation was the way to go for the next couple of hours.

Annemarie and I left and walked back over to Washington Street where we devoured a small pizza at Napoli’s. Then a walk back to where Annemarie parked her car. She was back to my niece’s house and I chilled out upstairs.

The next day was a beach day with my niece Corinne joining us, followed by another beach day with my niece Hillary in the back seat, followed by my niece Meghan on Wednesday. It was all good and of course it had to end, since I had to go back to the cigar shack today. It wasn’t that bad after all.

The 5 days off did me good. Just2 more days left before another 3 days off and another trip to the beach with Annemarie and her son Earl hopefully joining us. That’s about it.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to write tonight and you know what? I’m still not sure. It wasn’t as hard as I thought and I’m sure it was as entertaining as you thought it would be.